Video games may help fight obesity
Just when you thought the world was turning an evil eye towards video games, accusing it of converting children into violent thugs, rotting their brains and making them fat. Consoles like the Nintendo Wii have opened up a new way for the medical field to use the games to their advantage. With games being integrated into physical therapies that can not only improve a person’s hand-eye-coordination it may just help shed some pounds in childhood obesity.
According to an article published by the UK Press Association video games that engage children in any form of physical activity “may be an effective answer to childhood obesity.“
The Science Daily reported that because video games seem to be the more popular form of entertainment among children, “Children burn more than four times as many calories per minute playing an active video game than playing a seated game, and their heart rate is also significantly higher with the active game.“
One of the companies mentioned in the press release is an interactive system called the XaviX gaming system created by SSD Company Ltd. in Shiga, Japan. Much like the popular Nintendo Wii system, the XaviX system is designed to involve children in physical activities playing games like bowling, fishing, tennis, golfing and a more physical activity like jogging by using a gaming mat to perform their activities on called the XaviX J-Mat.
Of course in my opinion this console is starting to sound more and more like the Wii system. I’m not sure who will be willing to go out and buy a totally new system that does the same exact thing a Nintendo Wii does. Having played in a recent Wii bowling tournament and working out for the next one in a few weeks, playing any game on the Wii console for 15 minutes and I mean ANY game will have you downing a bottle of Gatorade and hitting the showers following a session.
The only difference between playing a game on the Wii and actually going to a gym is there are no membership fees or bone thin aerobic instructors putting you through an hour of torture while dangling the fact she can out bend you in any yoga position possibly known to women.
Read [Daily Mail] Read [Science Daily] Read [Forbes Online] Site [XaviX Online]
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Interestingly, the XaviX was available in 2004, before the Wii was released. Here’s an old review I wrote of the XaviX for CiN Weekly magazine (November 24, 2004) but archived elsewhere: http://webn.com/jacor-common/pj/xavix.html
on September 7, 2008 at 02:31 PM - LINKInteresting. If this existed LONG before the Wii why wouldn’t anyone see the potential of a great fitness too long before obesity became a problem? Lack of motivation? Couldn’t figure out how to WOW the kids to put the cheese doodles down and exercise? Or it didn’t have the name brand people have grown used to trusting? Very good story PJ. I’m thinking the later is the excuse because face it. So many people these days always vie for the name brand over anything else.
on September 8, 2008 at 08:45 AM - LINKProbably several factors. The XaviX was a bit of an outsider with only a few available games (I recall 3 a the time and it looks like its only up to nine apps four years later). It also helps to have some bigger-name companies promising to release creative games for your system.
It wasn’t promoted or displayed very well - it was always on the impossible-to-see bottom shelf at stores, usually in the weird out-of-the-way game stuff section (with the Atari Retro, TVGames, cheapo Poker/Solitaire/Sudoku handhleds, etc.), which cheapened its appeal purely by proximity. The release was also after that year’s E3 when the Wii was announced, so more serious gamers were likely going to wait for the Nintendo (and Mario) name.
The promises of the XaviX were pretty impressive at the time, too, (motion-sensitive home security and interactive videos) but don’t seem to have come to fruition. Now it appears the company has (perhaps wisely) embraced the even more popular health route instead of trying to compete against the Wii as an uber-multi-interactive system. Maybe they should try to sell it at health stores and fitness centers.
on September 8, 2008 at 12:03 PM - LINK